Its never too late to stay in the holiday spirit. Holiday cards keep that spirit alive. So, Shruti Swamy, program director of the Book Club of California, a 100-year-old (and counting!) San Francisco institution celebrating fine press, California literature and history, and the art of the book, told me about an exhibition on view of just that: Holiday Cards from William P. Wreden, Family, and Friends is open until Jan 18 at the exhibition space and clubroom in downtown San Francisco (free and open to the public).
“The exhibition spans 70 years of cards sent and received by the Wreden family, antiquarian booksellers who commissioned some of California’s most important printers, including the Grabhorns, to create their holiday cards,” Swamy says. “Many of these cards have an emphasis on typography. Taken together, they’re a diverse, witty, and beautiful collection that shows just how expansive the category of holiday card can be.”
The cards are courtesy of the curator William P. Wreden Jr., and the photographs were taken by Lesya Westerman.
Rivera, Diego. Mickey Mouse. [1984.] Grace Hoper Press. From the collection of Bertram D. Wolfe’s Rivera materials at the Hoover Institution Archives. Translated by Bertram D. Wolfe.
A Light Christmas. [1983.] Vignette. Grace Hoper Press. From Poor Robin. 1756. An Almanac….
A Light Christmas. [1983.] Vignette. Grace Hoper Press. From Poor Robin. 1756. An Almanac….
A Light Christmas. [1983.] Vignette. Grace Hoper Press. From Poor Robin. 1756. An Almanac….
[Browne, John.] California The Baloon [sic] Railway. [1982.] Grace Hoper Press. From Mechanics’ Magazine…. No. 1331. February 10, 1849.
Eastman -‐‑ Loomis. [The California Dog Express. 1956?] Woodcut. Grabhorn Press. Woodcut and accompanying text from Hutchings’ California Magazine. Vol. 5, no. 8. February, 1861.
An Eccentric San Francisco Dandy. [1993.] Ill. Feathered Serpent Press. From Frank Leslie’s Boys’ and Girls’ Weekly. May 3, 1879.
